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Christmas 2004

Margaret Bernhart, M.A., LMHC
Executive Director

I just finished eating a humongous slice of chocolate pecan pie. It's Thanksgiving Eve and I decided to break with tradition. I leaned over to my 85-year-old mother and asked, "How come we never did this growing up?" She laughed and said, "I don't know. I never thought of eating dessert the day before Thanksgiving, but I have to say, it sure is fun!"

Sometimes traditions bind us instead of bringing meaning to significant moments. Sharing this evening with my elderly mother and watching her eyes twinkle with childlike delight makes me want to live less predictably and with greater creative intention.

The incarnation of God in Christ is the paramount surprising, creative act. A medical impossibility, prophesied a thousand years earlier, His birth was still unexpected by most. This glorious arrival was dumbfounding, if not ludicrous, as Messiah - "the Christ" - was unveiled as a defenseless baby, born where the homeless were sheltered with an audience of smelly, transient sheepherders. Thecircumstances of His birth pointed to the astounding truth that it is the disenfranchised, the weak, and the helpless - those who thirst for more - who find life beyond their wildest imaginations. This Christmas I am again stunned by God's extravagant love demonstrated by His unpredictable, creative act of life.

As He grew, Jesus continued to reflect the mystery and artistry of the Father. He broke absurd religious traditions with an earthy, captivating style that stirred the hearts of those around him. How he must have delighted in watching the astonished throngs of hungry people seeing loaves and fishes multiplied before their very eyes. When he turned the water into wine, he must have laughed with the wedding guests as they were overcome with awe at such a lavish celebration gift. After His resurrection, He stoked the fire for a breakfast that would set the stage for Peter facing a heart whose embers had gone cold. Through the kind of questions that baffled the wise and exposed the hearts of his followers, Jesus turned to Peter and asked three times, "Do you love me more than these?" In utter brokenness, Peter could only yield to the memory of his betrayal - his deepest shame - and embrace his greatest longing that would lead him into his ultimate calling as an apostle to the early church.

Jesus asked questions with gentle and sincere curiosity that provoked and invited people to risk a closer look at their heart motivation. Surprisingly, the Christmas season offers us the same opportunity to uncover the layers of our heart as it entices us to recognize the ache that reveals our deepest desire. We hunger to connect with family and friends, and yet grieve the real connection that will never be this side of heaven. To hunger puts us in touch with loss and our longing for true peace. During the Christmas rush, it's easy to lose the joy and passion for the reason we celebrate and disintegrate into disengaged beings, tired, frustrated with glazed stares, spending beyond our means, and indulging our cravings to kill the ache within. Instead of trying to satisfy our hunger and cover the pain, we can allow it to lead us to the Father who is both the author and fulfillment of that desire.

We are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps and to live life abundantly - doing so "with all our heart" Col. 3:23. This is the opposite of disengagement and isolation, and frightens evil the most. Evil despises anything that is vibrant and alive. Desiring and hoping. Actively engaging in reciprocal love. In short, living: with pleasure, curiosity, creativity, surprise, mystery, imagination, passion, heroism, integrity, and mercy. Doing so is to grow away from mere existence toward truly living. Every moment of our lives holds the possibility of incarnation.

My hope for you this Christmas is that your heart will be stunned by undeserved love that invites you to bring your greatest betrayal and deepest shame to the feet of the Lamb who was slain for you. He has come to set you free you so that you might have life - abundant life.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

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